Jimmy Dowling – Dead Man’s Lullaby

Description

CD review by Graham Blackley

Singer-songwriter Jimmy Dowling, who plays acoustic guitar, banjolin and accordion, is joined on this interesting ten-track album by other musicians such as the harmonica-wielding Sime Nugent from those inspiring Australian combos, The Wilson Pickers and Sweet Jean.

On much of this album, Dowling and Co. generate a low-key atmosphere that provides the ideal frame for thoughtful alt-country-folk songs such as “The Gate”.

Slow-burn instrumental opener “Hangin’” and the closing track “The Easter Basket” are imbued with a quiet yet pervasive melancholy, their power derived from the stark and haunting shadows that they cast.

In contrast, the lively and colourful folk-rock salvo “Stale Bread”, which possesses a swaying, lurching and hypnotic rhythm that complements the song’s gritty sea-faring lyrical content, is delivered with the type of ragged and visceral approach that will delight fans of bands such as The Pogues.